Fun fact: Despite being in service for over 50 years and servicing billions of riders, no Japanese Bullet Train has ever had a major injury caused by operation. The countless safety measures and amazing engineering have given them a quite impressive...uh... track record.

and now let's see how fast it gets 'round our track...

Nothing but respect and admiration for the Japanese engineers and scientists.

At least it didn't catch fire like May & Hammond Rail

Thank you for your interest in Japanese bullet train. About 150 years ago, we Japanese have learned railway technology from UK. I'm very happy to cooperate with your country again installing new high speed train Class 800.

I only watch documentaries because Hammond is on this

Brilliant documentary. Only thing missing is Clarksson commenting on Hammonds failures. :D

16:40 He said that from 1500-3000V it increased to 25,000V. That's not as simple as increasing the volts. They also change from Direct Current to Alternating Current. Most commuter lines use 1500V DC. The Shinkansen uses 25kV AC.

Richard Hammond has a wonderful voice. Wtf. Also he's a brilliant, brilliant presenter. He reads and speaks so very well, damn.

"wobbling along a dead straight track" that track is more bendy than James Charles...

Fantastic documentary" I need to watch more episodes of this series. This just goes to show you how much engineers today rely upon problems solved centuries ago.

Anyone else in love with that second bike and sidecar combo? The leaning mechanism is very cool.

This guy teach better than my teacher

Just got back from Japan and my God what a marvel of a country. The Shinkansen is an engineering miracle

32:42 that look on the engineers face sitting by the window is just priceless. LOL Shows what the relationship is between Japanese managers and engineers in a odd situations...

The Shinkansen is truly a marvel of modern tech. Having traveled on them numerous times, they never fail to amaze. Just a pity Mr Hammond, like so many other TV presenters, cannot pronounce "kilometres" correctly.

I'd be so happy watching any documentary narrated by hammond may or Clarkson ❤

Actually leaning into the corner doesn't reduce the centrifugal force, it just shifts your center of gravity in line with your new resulting force (gravity + centrifugal), meaning the (attempted) movement vector of your vehicle is towards the ground, with no other directional component. TLDR: You just adjust your center of gravity to make the centrifugal force go completely into the wheels, instead of toppling your vehicle. It still exists though.

36:10 "And every 100 years or so, Tokyo has been shaken by an even more devastating quake" Its kinda disturbing that this show came out in 2008. Imagine watching this on the day it happened.

Out of the TOP GEAR guys, Hammond was the most hilarious of the three, but James May's laugh beat everything.

my brain grew 2 sizes after watching this.

“The stopping is going to be uncomfortable” he says as the prototype destroys as it rams into the end 😂

50 minutes and nothing about the nose preventing tunnel boom :(

Leaning into turns does not reduce the centrifugal force. Rather, it merely shifts the center of mass.

"It's is by my reckoning 112 wheel drive." I love that sentence. I"'m so confident I'm going topless." I love that as well.

I enjoy education system that is informative, encouraging and entertaining. Thanks for great effort to share knowledge in such fun and inspiring way.

4:30 - Voiceover: "Dead straight track." Picture: Curved track.

this is why Hammond is my favorite of the Top Gear guys. hes just a regular engineering nerd and loves looking at how things work.

Almost 60 years of service no fatal victims in the shinkansen... Awesome record!!! And only with an has an annual average delay of 6 seconds

I love this guy. 😍 and the content. So full of good infos. 😍😍🤯

Used to love watching this series after school :)

Thanks for an interesting, entertaining and educational programme. I really enjoyed it. Bless you and yours.

How could they have known the prediction of that massive and devestating earthquake looming over Japan made in this programme would come sooner than later on 2011 as the largest earthquake in recorded history..

One thing not mentioned about Asaka, was it is believed the driver oversped the train through the turn to make up for the fact he was late and been essentially already written up once that day. Not soooo much engineering failure as much as operator failure.

A Class-A Documentary! Great work!

what a beautiful train, the science is awesome, thanks.

I have been all around Japan on these, and they are amazing! I am also disappointed you didn't call it a Shinkansen as that is the name.

Just to be clear, springs by themselves do not dampen, the coil-damper unit dampens motion.

this is frickin amazing!!

Amazing documentary by Hammond

first cartridge derailed because it hit the asphalt lol

I have to say.. that second side car is so cool

Thanks for uploading

I like this guy because he explains each and every thing.

46:36 Richard: Hello Japanese bloke: *speaks japanese* Richard: Yes. Hello wow

At least toddlers can watch this and understand it

Wow what a great documentary thanks man

It has been two hours since I’ve seen this series I need to watch it again

22:00 i can hear Clarkson shouting "Nonsense ! POWEEEER !

From the information shared in this piece, I can only assume that the trains in Melbourne, Australia have the first example of conical wheels and no spring suspension. I take this assumption from the fact that every evening after work on the train home via Richmond, I watch as people are thrown about the carriage, even though we're going no faster than 50kph, and also watch the carriage connections sway about wildly from side to side, looking as though they will become uncoupled. Yet when I travel on the German S-Bahn, Regiobahn or high speed ICE (Inter City Express) trains, they are smooth as silk..

I need to watch this more often

Richard Hammond’s voice is the most recognizable voiceover in documentaries

21:34 Dodge: That's where you're wrong kiddo

Great video and No ads makes it great.

Amazing! Thankyou!!

Great documentary!

36:25 that's very true. 19th September 2017, a Mexico City Subway train derailed during the deadliest earthquake in my country since 1985

just sitting here, waiting for the stig to pop up, to take it for a spin on the track... anyone else??? also here, because i kinda like that dude called hammond...

Great work Sir Richard

Very informative and educational indeed !

My home state of California is currently building America's first and so far only true high speed rail line, that'll one day connect San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours. Like Japan's Bullet Train, it too will employ a similar early earthquake detection system. Despite setbacks and cost overruns, not unlike Japan's first bullet train line that cost twice its original budget, progress has been moving at a steady pace for the past several years in California's Central Valley, and will one day extend into SF and LA.

Richards second bullet train since the top gear Japan episode?

You forgot to mention why the nose of the train is that shape?.. It's because the designer of the bullet train is a bird watcher and designed the nose of the train in that way to reduce sound pressure when exiting a tunnel

i love the bloke wearing a suit while charioteering. class

At 16:38 he says that they increased the “flow” by increasing the overall voltage. Looks like you got amperage and voltage mixed up in your analogy there Hammyboy- Amperage is equivalent to water “Flow” in say a hose whereas Voltage is equivalent to the water “Pressure” in that hose. Finally, in that same water hose analogy, Resistance is equivalent to the diameter of the hose. Just though I’d point this out real quick...

300系が走っているという事は2012年以前のものなので少々古め。

Amazing work done on this video

This show is now my quarantine time show

At 30:35 he says ancient charioteers couldn't have possible known about Newtonian laws but somehow they instinctively knew. lol Well yea, we learn these things as soon as we start walking. We don't know the formulas behind it but we know/learn what works. Even some animals figure out some basic physics. When playing fetch, a smart dog can predict the path of a ball and cut angles to intercept the path of the ball (my German Shepherd does this) My German Shepherd even predicts how the ball will bounce off a wall. She sees the ball going towards a wall & she positions herself to catch the ball after the bounce. She knows where the ball will go after it bounces off the wall. lol My small mutt isn't a dumb dog but she doesn't do that. She just chases directly after it. She will chase it towards the wall & doesn't alter her course until after the ball bounces off the wall. Anyways, my point being, we kinda figure out how things work. If you are running & want to turn, you gotta lean if you don't want to fall. Nature or nurture, it doesn't matter. All animals figure out the very basics like leaning and it doesn't take human levels of intelligence to figure out more complex things like predicting the path of a falling, or moving ball.

Richard Hammond talking about trains :-O

I remember watching this when I was too young to understand. Memories~

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation! I have been enjoying travel by shinkasen since 2001. I prever Shinkansen to aircraf!

30:19 Hamster hasn't got enough mass for that

Most advanced country in Asia is Japan..keep it up Japan..

Good Documentary. 💯💯💯

Awesome been in it many times love it.

42:04 That's the prettiest pile of scrap I've ever seen!

A normal train Runs on 15.000 volts. At least in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and several others having adopted the norm in 1913. Hungarian innovation in the 1920s was to use 25.000 instead.

Yes! I found it in high quality.

I respect the time tables and the fact that on average it’s only maybe a minute late at worst, the drivers are under a HELL of a lot of pressure to maintain timetables

27:05 Bunta Fujiwara would not be happy about that

how cute was that.... when he's listening to a japanese lecturer. 😆 46:55

great information. Hammond is still shorter than most factory workers and train passengers.

The first engineering connection series is best..

With Japanese technology, Max will be champion next season.

nothing about aerodynamics??

amazing

Great great video 👍👍👍🔥🔥🔥

これGT-R vs 公共交通機関のヤツ思い出すな

The fastest train, pause, in the world.

Here I go again, watching documentaries at 4am

Great communicator, indeed.

トップギアに出てたおっちゃんやん！今は出てないけど

This guy likes other stuff than cars? I am surprised!

The best ka tlga brother

Super b..finally I got the complete info

But you didn't tell how the braking system works at that speed!!

this channel is uploading very old documentaries.

The Japanese Shinkansen 10 billion passengers, zero fatalities makes this the safest form of transport on the globe.

That necklace with the blue collared shirt lmao 12:10